


out for drinks

by akidescent (avieavi)



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Drinking, M/M, Mornings, Walk Into A Bar, two guys walk in to a bar what happesn kjdlsa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avieavi/pseuds/akidescent
Summary: itaru's drink: red bull? soda? coffee? idk who knows but tasuku is concerned regardlessalso tsumugi is a lil shit
Relationships: Chigasaki Itaru & Takatoo Tasuku, Chigasaki Itaru/Takatoo Tasuku
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42





	out for drinks

**Author's Note:**

> originally for rarepair week but it doesn't really fit any of the prompts?? idk what i was thinking tbh? but ill post it now? idk

Itaru needed to head out early to head to work that Monday morning. Disappointed that he couldn’t use up all of his stamina for all of his games and that he couldn’t talk to his online friends, he sighed and got his “Office Prince” costume ready. A constant act that he had to keep up for appearances, he forced himself up to be a useful member of society… even though all he truly wants to do is to finish that side quest. Take a shower, clean his face, hair, the usual routine to keep up a decent appearance… the bed can stay like that. Once he got ready, he stepped out of his room, careful not to wake up his dorm mates earlier than they needed to. 

“ _Of course, Tasuku would be up this early.”_ he thought to himself. The Mankai dorms were mostly quiet before the students woke up, minding Tasuku heading out to run his morning laps.

"Chigasaki. I don't see you this early often. What's the occasion?" Tasuku filled his water bottle in the kitchen when Itaru got to the kitchen. 

"Work… There's this client who is flying in this morning and my senpai made me handle his paperwork before he comes in… It’s a pain." 

"You're not much of a morning person and it shows." Tasuku chuckled to himself. "Tsumugi is like that too."

"Yeah, yeah. Leave me alone, I'll be fine with some coffee." The white-collar worker then decided to make a… curious concoction. He made his usual pot of instant coffee, then instead of adding water to it, he added an energy drink to his cup. Tasuku looked up from filling his second bottle of water when he heard the distinct noise of a can of soda opening.

"What the hell are you drinking first thing in the morning?"

" _Listen_ ,” he raised his voice, almost screaming. “Don't judge me. I am tired. I didn't play any games last night because I knew I had to wake up early or whatever. But I couldn't get a wink of sleep. And I already said to leave me alone."

Tasuku remained silent but looked down at Itaru's face more clearly. Itaru managed to put on his facade where his coworkers would not notice if anything was out of place, with his clean suit and casually styled hair. But making eye contact, you can see the glossy thousand-yard stare and the heavy eye bags that accompanied it. His unusual irritability stemming from the lack of sleep contrasted his usual prince-like demeanor or even his other persona of a casual gamer. Tasuku didn't know whether to dote on him like he would one of the younger members of the company or if he should keep his distance as an adult. 

Itaru sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. Forget it. I’ll get going.“

“Are you free after work?“

Itaru raised his eyebrows and checked his phone before looking back up at Tasuku. “...I have nothing going on in any of my games.”

“Let’s go out for drinks. I’ll pay.”

“For real? Are you sure about that?”

“You’ve been in a bad mood for a while, I noticed it starting last week. I’m no Azuma but I’d be willing to listen to your struggles. Not to mention, I haven’t gone out for drinks with you.”

“Well, ok. If you say so. I should get going soon,” Itaru said a bit too quickly. 

Tasuku watched as Itaru filled his thermos with the brown coffee concoction that also fizzed from the soda. “That _thing_ is unhealthy for you.”

“I know.” Itaru took a sip before he stepped out of the kitchen, grabbing his car keys out of his pocket. “But if it’s in a metal water bottle, it looks legit, right?”

“You sound like a tired college student.”

“I was a long time ago. Uh, see you tonight. And thanks. For tonight. Yeah.” Itaru stumbled over his promise and left before Tasuku could get out another word. Tasuku sighed as he left the room, leaving words unsaid. 

* * *

“Are you headed out somewhere tonight?” Tsumugi looked up from grading Taichi’s practice test, surrounded by scattered papers in their shared dorm room. Taichi had gone off to study on his own for the rest of the night, but Tsumugi continued looking over his papers at the table. With exams coming up, Tsumugi has been busy juggling his part-time tutoring job as well as handling the O High boys that needed his help. 

“Yeah. I’m going out for drinks with Chigasaki.”

“Itaru-san? That’s an unusual combination.“ Tsumugi put down his red pen to focus on the conversation. “What’s the occasion?”

“We haven’t gone out drinking together. And he usually ends up going off to the bathroom alone to play games every time we go out drinking as a big group so I wanted to at least try and get to know him. Besides, he was in a bad mood this morning.”

Tsumugi leaned in closer, putting his elbows on the table and his hand in his face. “Huh. I’m surprised there’s no theater motivation behind this,” he said out loud. “And I know he’s not a morning person, so that’s probably why he was probably in a bad mood.”

“Well, human connection for one. And it helps to get to know the other members, right?”

“I suppose,” he admitted. “I would join you but I’m a bit busy right now,” gesturing to his stack of papers covered in wrong answers and red ink. “Tenma’s stack is around here too.”

“That’s alright,” he put on his shoes while looking back at his childhood friend. “We probably won’t be that long. I’ll be headed out. See you later, Tsumu.”

“Oh? ‘Probably won’t be that long,’ Ta-chan?” Tsumugi gave his usual smile laced with a mischievous nature. “Have fun, use protection!” 

“That last part was not needed,” Tasuku sighed while Tsumugi laughed to himself, with a not-so-angelic flair.

* * *

“I never expected to be spending tonight with you, to be completely honest. Not that I don’t mind.” Itaru mumbled while sitting in the bar Azuma introduced Tasuku. He’d already changed out of his work suit into his usual professional appearance. Despite itching to get out of this outfit into his more comfortable casual clothes, he decided to take a chance with going out tonight. “ _Never thought I would go down the Tasuku route, but hey. I’m in-between events anyway and I’m beating Banri by two million points in the ranking,”_ the gamer thought to himself. 

Tasuku looked at him. Itaru is not his first choice when it comes to a drinking partner, but he doesn’t know much about him. “It’s a nice change of pace. I’m used to the Winter Troupe’s antics and you always end up “going to the bathroom” during our company drinking nights.”

 _“I feel like I don’t understand you that well,_ ” a thought left unsaid by the duo. 

Tasuku ordered two beers at the counter, already familiar with the bartender, before taking Itaru to the quiet seats that look out the second-story window, watching over the bustling nightlife.

Itaru gave a hollow chuckle, not sure how to respond to Tasuku. “I know I say that I’m in the bathroom but it’s pretty obvious that I’m playing games. I’m not a huge fan of alcohol if I’m being honest. Not that I don’t appreciate you paying tonight.” 

“Not a huge fan? How come?”

“My coworkers and manager always try to get me to go drinking with them. I’m not a huge fan of being forced to drink in social settings. It’s awful being the sober one around drunk people,” Itaru confessed, likely enamored by Tasuku’s honest nature to talk. “At least with one-on-one, we can have conversations like these and keep each other accountable.”

“Hm. That’s fair. It’s Tsumugi and me who ends up drinking a bit too much and talking about theater the entire night.”

“Tsumugi… It must be nice to have a childhood friend who’s still around,” Itaru said with a wistful look, looking away from Tasuku at nothing in particular behind him.

“Well. We had our ups and downs, that’s for sure. Did you have a childhood friend in mind?”

Itaru remained silent for a moment before responding to that question. “...I knew this guy, Tonooka. Used to be super close and we even liked the same games, even if it was kinda lame to like it back then. But, he turned around and backstabbed me by exposing my gaming hobby, probably to try to save his ass from being exposed too.” Itaru stopped before he continued talking. “Er… I’m rambling at this point, sorry.” 

“No, it’s alright. You don’t talk about your past much, so that’s why I asked.”

“Well, you’re not wrong. I just don’t like remembering bad stuff,” Itaru stated while leaving many questions unanswered. 

“I won’t pry, then.“ Tasuku said, sipping his drink. “I have plenty of things I don’t exactly like to remember either.”

Itaru hummed in agreement. “I’m sure you have a lot of things you’d want to expose about the God Troupe.“ He picked up the drink to mirror what Tasuku did. Realizing that he had done so, he put it down, making an uneasy face.

“Don’t drink if you don’t want to, Chigasaki.”

“—” Widening his eyes in surprise, he looked back at the drink, the beer foam growing smaller as time went on. “I admitted that I don’t like alcohol, but It still seems socially unacceptable to leave a glass full like this, especially since you brought me out here tonight.”

“So? I don’t mind. Just let me drink it then,” Tasuku reaffirmed his colleague, gesturing a come hither motion with his hands to get Itaru to pass the glass over to him. “We all have our preferences. Hell, I don’t like cheese.” 

“What?” Itaru took a second to think about what he just said: he discovered the theater junkie’s weakness. “...Oh, I guess you do avoid Omi’s cheese dishes. I guess you can learn something new every day.”

“Yeah. That’s true. I get that the Spring Troupe had a lot of younger people so I guess you all can’t go out to drinks together. But we’re all adults in the winter troupe, so when we went out to drinks, we talked about a lot of things to get along for the first play…”

Itaru hummed in agreement, watching Tasuku drink his beers with his figure illuminated by the moonlight. He tuned out his voice, admiring the simple quirks of him gripping the glass of beer and the slight redness that’s blushing his cheeks from the alcohol. “ _He does have a nice face… wait, what am I thinking? I haven’t even drunk anything, right?”_

“...So what about you, Chigasaki?”

“Huh?” Snapping out of his stupor, he focused his attention back on Tasuku,

“I said, do you have anything going on in your love life?”

“I, uh- not really. I haven’t made time for love if I’m being honest.” Itaru looked fatigued, telling Tasuku the truth like this.

“Do you just play games all day? I’d figure a pretty face like yours must have a few stories about love to tell.“ Tasuku teased.

Itaru thought about his past. “ _Nope. I’ll continue repressing those memories.”_ Itaru thought about any of his significant others or past crushes. “ _Nope, I’m not giving any ammo for anyone to blackmail me.”_ Itaru thought about his current situation. “Wait, Tasuku called me a pretty face,” accidentally saying that last thought out loud.

“Yeah, guess I did,” he said with the confidence of an experienced actor.

“Oh. You heard that.”

“Yup. You do that even when you’re sober, huh?”

“Shut up,” he playfully shoved Tasuku’s side but he barely budged. Itaru didn’t realize that the night was getting late, but for the two of them, their relationship started to bloom unexpectedly.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to talk to me on twitter [@tsukitsum!](https://twitter.com/tsukitsum)


End file.
